The Chancellor confirmed that a business rates revaluation will still take place in April 2023, but also announced a set of changes, including:
- Multipliers will be frozen in 2023/24 at 49.9p and 51.2p (instead of rising to 52.9p and 54.2p).
- Relief for retail, hospitality and leisure will increase from 50% to 75%, equating to £110,000 per business in 2023/24.
- A transitional relief scheme will be put in place, placing ‘upward caps’ on bill increases caused by changes in rateable values at the 2023 revaluation. The caps will apply at different rates depending on business size.
- A new supporting small business scheme (SSBS) will take effect from 1 April 2023, capping bill increases at £600 per year for small businesses that are losing eligibility or seeing reductions in small business rate relief or rural rate relief.
- Improvement relief, which was announced at Autumn Budget 2021, will now be introduced from April 2024 until 2028.
